1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a purely chemical process for producing alkali and alkaline earth metals by reducing their halides with Ga, In or Tl.
2. Prior Art
The halides of Na, K and Mg are available from abundant natural sources. In addition, they are formed in substantial quantities as reaction products of chemical and halide metallurgical processes. Since alkali and alkaline earth metals can moreover be obtained without difficulty from minerals, rocks and ores, numerous chemical processes for producing alkali and alkaline earth metals from their halides have already been proposed, e.g. the reduction of the fluorides and chlorides of Li, Na, K, Cs, and Rb with Ca, CaC.sub.2, and Ba as well as the reduction of BeF.sub.2 and BeCl.sub.2 with Mg or Na; but these reducing agents have to be generated beforehand, preferably by fusion electrolysis.
Those processes have the disadvantage that the required reducing agents Ca, Ba, Mg, and CaC.sub.2 have to be produced with an uneconomically high consumption of electric power. For example, the separation of merely 1 t magnesium from magnesium chloride by fusion electrolysis requires at least 17,000 kWh, and for the production of 1 t sodium 1.4 t calcium carbide from CaO and C is required at an electric power consumption of 4,200 kWh, apart from the poor spacetime yield of electrolytic plants and the voluminous electrical equipment needed for the generation and conduction of high-ampere current, this applies also to the calcium carbide furnaces.